Director David Fincher's The Social Network wins you over immediately with a pitch-perfect, tone setting opening sequence where Mark Zuckerberg (brilliantly played by Jesse Eisenberg) and his very soon-to-be ex-girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara) engage in a His Girl Friday-esque fast-paced, out-of-synch conversation to which Erica at one point fittingly says "Sometimes, Mark, seriously, you say two things at once and I'm not sure which one I'm supposed to be aiming at.... It's exhausting. Going out with you is like dating a Stairmaster." In the conclusion of this scene Mark is dumped, ultimately propelling a chain of emotional events that leads the narrative rhythm of the film and character.

The breakup scene is followed by a masterful title sequence, which subtly expresses the lead character of the film (heightened by a beautifully minimal score) - as Mark walks alone through the lively campus to his dorm (reflecting both his bitter, heartbroken emotional state, as well as that of his physical alienation to the social world that surrounds him. His reality is only when he returns home to his computer and codes.) When at the dorm, his anger (blended with some consumed alcohol) becomes a risky combination with his highly skilled computer genius, thus leading a path to his creation of Facebook - as well as the underlying ideas of the power and danger such a social media can become when human emotion is involved.

These opening sequences establish the story, characterizations and tone of the entire film, and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin smartly returns to Erica's character a few more times throughout the film (including a rather lonesome final shot).